


Special Needs

by Rakefetzyz



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Albinism, Blindness, Disabled Character, Infertility, Orphanage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-10-31 12:29:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17849510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rakefetzyz/pseuds/Rakefetzyz
Summary: When Matt and Karen experience problems with fertility, Sister Maggie encourages them to adopt a child from the orphanage.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a another possibility for Matt and Karen’s future family. I presented a different future family in my story “Future Imperfect. "

Karen watched the single line emerge in the window of the pregnancy test. She pressed her lips together to stop them trembling, but a few tears escaped from her eyes. 

She and Matt would be marking their fifth anniversary soon. She never expected to reach that milestone without at least one baby, maybe two. She went over her calculations again, but no matter how often she added, subtracted or multiplied, there just wasn’t enough money for fertility treatments and for everything a child would need too.

The Nelson Murdock and Page firm was staying afloat. Mostly because Foggy insisted they take enough paying cases to let all three partners eat and pay their bills. It was for Karen's and Matt's sake he insisted more than his own. Marci still had a cushy job and was happy to help him maintain a higher standard of living than that of his partners.

Their bills were getting paid, but they had to budget too carefully to afford fertility treatments.

“I’m sorry, honey,” Matt said when Karen told him that only one line had appeared. “It’s me. My accident exposed me to radioactive chemicals when I was a kid.” 

He wasn’t sure exactly how he knew, but lately he suspected that the chemicals had taken more than his sight. They had also taken his ability to father children.

“We can't know that’s true unless we both get tested.” Karen swallowed her tears. Matt got hurt back then because he saved an old man's life. Much as she longed to be a mother, she couldn't fault him for his childhood heroism.

“We'll be a family of two.” She put on a brave front. “We’ll have more time to focus on each other.”

But her heart rate changed when she said it and Matt knew her heart was breaking.

Should he go for testing anyway? Infertility tests for men were simpler and much less expensive than the ones for women. But testing would discover genetic alterations. The doctors would want to perform further tests to determine if the chemicals had affected him in other ways. It was too risky. His enhanced senses needed to stay secret.

Matt went to Clinton Church to consult with Sister Maggie. For privacy they met down in the crypt.

Sister Maggie listened to Matt's story. She had felt little joy in pregnancy and motherhood when she gave birth, but she knew that most women did. Infertility could be a major devastation for them. 

Typically, she would not tolerate self pity.

“It’s what I tell the orphanage children. When life doesn’t go the way you wish, you need to find another way.”

“What do you mean?” Matt asked her.

“Have you and Karen considered adoption? We have a few hard to place – what they call special needs children -- who would give anything for a loving family.”

Matt grimaced, remembering his own years as a special needs child. Other children, especially little kids, but also older girls, found new families. But no one seemed to want a ten- or twelve-year-old boy with a disability. 

It made him feel flawed as though he were a lesser human being. Even now he struggled with feelings of unworthiness sometimes. 

It was one reason he got into so many fights at Saint Agnes. He couldn’t stand by and let the orphanage bullies make the smaller and weaker kids feel that way too. 

Yet he had never thought of suggesting adoption to Karen. 

“I don't know how Karen would take the idea. She's set on giving birth to our baby.”

Sister Maggie told Matt to let Karen grieve for a month or two. “Let her grieve for the child she carries in her imagination. Then I’ll talk to her.”

Matt gave a knowing smile. If Sister Maggie got started on her, Karen wouldn’t stand a chance.


	2. Chapter 2

“I would consider adopting a baby,” Karen said to her mother-in-law. 

Six weeks after she broached the subject of adoption with Matt, Sister Maggie asked Karen to come to the church for coffee and a chat. The two sat at a table near the coffee maker.

“We have almost no infants.” Sister Maggie replied. Occasionally newborns were abandoned and the parents could not be located, or a new mother relinquished rights and the baby stayed at the orphanage temporarily. 

“But there's always a waiting list of parents who want to adopt healthy infants.”

“Then why did you bring it up?”

The sister took a sip of coffee and offered a plate of donated pastries to the younger woman.  
“Most of our children at Saint Agnes are not available for adoption. But we had a boy some years ago who was. He would have made anyone a fine son. Unfortunately, he was past early childhood when he came to us and he had a disability. Adoption agencies use the term special needs.

“Gradually almost all the other children who were free to be adopted went to families. This boy had to watch that happen while knowing that no family ever wanted him. I mean ‘watch' in a manner of speaking, of course.”

“Matt,” Karen understood. “I didn’t know he was available for adoption.”

“His father died,” Sister Maggie explained, “and I was required to renounce my rights when I took my vows. Saint Agnes works together with a Catholic adoption agency. We tried to find a family for Matthew but between his age and his blindness…”

“Do you have a child in mind for us?” Karen guessed, “Someone who also has what you call ‘special needs?’”

Sister Maggie explained that the couple would need to be approved by the adoption agency first. 

“Is that a rule?”

“It's my rule,” Sister Maggie said firmly. “I don't want to raise false hope in a child who has been disappointed so many times before. I personally won’t introduce a child to prospective parents until they’ve been approved to adopt.”

“What does that entail?” asked Karen

The nun handed her a brochure. The couple would need to fill out an application to the agency and there was a long list of other requirements. They would need to pass physical and mental health exams, get police clearance, prove they were financially capable of providing for a child and present references. The agency would send a social worker to their apartment to inspect their living space and interview them for a home study. They would also need to attend parenting classes. 

“Then when you are what the agency calls paper ready, I can introduce you to a specific child.”

“Couples who have biological children don’t need to do all that!” Karen protested.

“That's true,” Sister Maggie agreed. “But we have to make sure our children go to good families.”

“There's one more thing,” she continued. “Matthew will need to give up his other life for a while.”

“Why does he need to give it up?”

“I know a doctor who can help with the physical exam. She spent ten months at Saint Agnes before she was adopted twenty years ago. I can ask her not to mention the scars. 

“But Matthew can’t let a social worker see cuts and bruises all over him. Even if he claims he fell down the stairs or bumped into a post, it would count against his competence to be a parent.”

“I don’t know how Matt would feel about giving up Daredevil, even for a while. It’s so much a part of who he is.”

Sister Maggie finished her coffee and put down the cup. “I’ll talk to Matthew.”

Karen gave a knowing smile. If Sister Maggie got started on him, Matt wouldn’t stand a chance.


	3. Chapter 3

Karen never did find out what Sister Maggie said to Matt. Maybe she quoted his younger self on how it felt to be an orphanage child who never got adopted. However, Matt agreed to stop his night activities long enough to become paper ready for adoption.

They worked through the steps one by one. The physical exam came first. Karen was in excellent health and the doctor who had been Sister Maggie's former orphan pronounced Matt fit without mentioning his scars.

Next came the mental health exam. They went to see Dr. Patel, the psychologist who worked with the adoption agency. He called each of them into his office separately.

Trying not to appear too worried or nervous, they answered questions about their relationships with their parents.

“My dad always wanted me to get an education, to have a better life than he did,” Matt said. “It’s why I became a lawyer.”

Dr. Patel thought Matt’s good relationship with his father and the fact the he knew how it felt to lose a parent boded well for a future relationship with an orphanage child.

When Karen’s turn came she tried to share good memories.

“My family would snatch meals together at odd times when the diner wasn’t too busy. My dad made these special pancakes for me. He called them Karen cakes.” She talked mostly about her early life before her family fell apart, and hoped for the best. Since no call came to inform them that they were disqualified, they assumed they must have passed.

Police clearance came through shortly after they applied.

“How could two people like us have no trouble getting police clearance?” Karen wondered aloud to Matt.

But there was no record of Karen driving the car the night that Kevin died. Nor was there any evidence linking her to Wesley. She had never even been charged for Daniel Fisher’s murder the time she was framed for it.

Daredevil constantly broke the law. That’s what vigilantes did. But as far as the police knew Matt was simply an upstanding lawyer. They had no trouble getting clearance. 

They had to turn their financial records over to the agency. Fortunately they didn’t need to be wealthy to qualify. They only needed to prove they were managing their finances. Thanks to Foggy’s insistence on taking paying cases, they were doing well enough.

They completed a ten week parenting class.

Foggy wrote them such a glowing reference, they had to edit out some of his over enthusiasm. 

"Foggy, you can’t say that Karen and I are ‘the most perfect parents that every child prefers.’ Matt said after reading a Braille printout of the letter. “It sounds like a commercial.”

Ellison agreed to write a more straight forward reference even though Karen no longer worked at the Bulletin. 

Finally it was time for the social worker to come do the home study. Matt and Karen scrubbed floors and polished tables with a thoroughness their apartment had never seen before. 

On the set evening, Karen answered the door to a dark haired woman in her mid forties. The social worker was a few inches shorter and had a heavier build than Karen. She introduced herself as Ms. Flores and gave Karen an encouraging smile .

Karen showed Ms. Flores around the apartment while Matt prepared coffee and refreshments. They had planned it that way so that the social worker would have a chance to see how capable Matt was at household tasks.

After Karen pointed out the room that would be the child's bedroom and a corner of the living room they had designated as a play area, Matt brought cake and mugs to the coffee table. They all sat around it to talk.

Ms. Flores seemed pleased with their home and satisfied with their attitudes toward parenting. 

“We're always happy when prospective parents consider an older child with special needs. These children deserve families like all children, but so many of them never get the chance.” 

Karen took Matt’s hand and squeezed gently. No one knew better than Matt about children who never got the chance to have a new family.

Ms. Flores did have one concern. “We are a Catholic adoption agency.” She turned to Karen, “We sometimes place a child with non-Catholics, but the nuns prefer…”

Karen said she was okay with the child being Catholic. “Especially if a child from Saint Agnes is used to it,” she said, “It’s a big enough adjustment, joining a new family.”

Karen’s answer was met by a wide smile from the social worker. They stopped worrying about a negative home study.

A month later approval from the adoption agency came through. They were now officially “paper ready” and could start meeting available children.


	4. Chapter 4

The following Saturday, Sister Maggie asked Matt and Karen to come to the orphanage to hear about a potential child. This time she took them to the office of the orphanage infirmary.”

“Jacob is eight years old now,” she told them. “He's been with us since he was three.”

“Why was he placed in the orphanage?” Matt asked.

Sister Maggie sighed. “Every child here has a different tragic story. Jacob’s father disappeared before he was born. Then the mother died of an opioid overdose when he was three. He became available for adoption at three and a half, after attempts to locate the father turned up nothing.

“Most children that young have no problem finding an adoptive family, but…”

“But he has special needs,” Karen concluded.

“Yes, he has albinism.”

“You mean he has very pale skin and hair?” Karen asked. “That doesn’t sound serious.”

“Albinism affects vision, too,” Sister Maggie explained. “Jacob is legally blind. He also has a condition called nystagmus which means his eyes are constantly moving and that makes it difficult for him to focus. 

“He's in second grade and has learned to read print. But his condition makes reading so painstaking that the teacher for visual impairments thinks he should start learning Braille. He will probably also need a cane when he’s older and can go out by himself at night.”

Karen looked at Matt, who reached to take her hand. 

“None of that would matter to us.” Karen said and Matt nodded.

Sister Maggie asked them to go sit on a bench in the grounds around the orphanage. 

“I’ll bring Jacob there for a quick introduction. If all goes well you can take him out for a few hours tomorrow afternoon.”

Matt showed Karen to a bench under a maple tree that he remembered from his days at Saint Agnes. 

Soon Sister Maggie came out to the bench with the eight-year-old boy. He had very light pink skin and almost white hair, neat and cut short. Strong glasses magnified his violet colored eyes. Despite the unusual paleness, Karen found him pleasant to look at.

“I’ll leave you three to get acquainted. I’ll be in the infirmary if you need me.” Sister Maggie headed back to the building. 

Jacob stood near the bench with his head bent downward. “Sister Maggie said you wanted to meet me,” he mumbled. “She says that when moms and dads come to meet kids for adoption.”

“You don’t sound too happy about it,” Karen commented.

“You won’t want me!” he blurted out. “No one wants me because I look funny and I can’t see very much.”

Karen looked at him, smiling. “I think you look very handsome,” she said.

“I can’t see you, but I trust my wife's opinion.” Matt went to crouch beside the child.

“You can’t see me?” Jacob looked up to face him.

“I’m blind. I can’t even tell light from dark,” said Matt. He took his glasses off, guessing that Jacob was close enough to make out his blank, unfocused eyes.

The boy seemed impressed. “At least I can see some. I can read too.”

“I can read,” Matt said, “I just read in a different way. I use my fingers to read Braille.” 

He stood and suggested they join Karen on the bench. Matt let the boy sit next to her and then sat on his other side. 

“My teacher wants me to learn that Braille reading.” Jacob told Matt. “She showed me a book. It looks really hard.”

“It takes time and a lot of practice to learn it,” Matt acknowledged. “I can help you practice if you want.”

“You can? Really?”

“I’m very good at Braille.” Matt answered.

Karen took the boy’s hand in hers. “I can’t help much with Braille. But I’ll read you lots of books until you learn it well enough to do your own reading.”

“You’ll read books just for me?” Jacob shook his head as if he didn't believe it.”

“I’d love to!”

It seemed they had only been talking a few minutes, when Sister Maggie came to take Jacob back inside.

“You have chores to do before supper,” she said to Jacob.

Karen let go of his hand. “We'll come back to see you tomorrow.”

“Promise?”

“We promise!” Karen and Matt said together. Karen watched and Matt listened to him walking back with Sister Maggie.

“Don’t they read to the kids?” Karen asked when she and Matt returned to their apartment.

“They have story time for the younger ones. But it’s a group activity. They don’t have time to read to each child. And it’s usually Bible stories or stories about the saints.”

Karen knitted her brow. “I’ll think of something more fun to read to Jacob tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Information on albinism, including the effects on vision can be found here:
> 
>  
> 
> [ https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/albinism/symptoms-causes/syc-20369184 ](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/albinism/symptoms-causes/syc-20369184)


	5. Chapter 5

“You came back,” Jacob yelled as soon as they were close enough for him to see them. 

This time Sister Maggie had them come to the main office of the orphanage after the children finished eating their Sunday dinner. They needed to sign a form there to take Jacob out for the afternoon. 

“We promised, buddy,” Matt said as though that explained it. But he knew from experience that orphanage kids were used to broken promises. 

That first Sunday they walked to a nearby park with a playground. When Jacob got tired of the swings and slides, they again sat the boy between them on a bench. 

Karen read two stories from the first “Wayside School" book. She remembered enjoying the series when she was about Jacob’s age. Jacob sat enthralled as she read and even Matt seemed to be interested in hearing what came next. 

Jacob wanted her to read another story, but Matt told the boy they had other plans. They walked again until they came to a café where the adults ordered coffee and Jacob had a cup of hot chocolate. 

While they sipped their drinks, Matt got Jacob talking about life at the orphanage. 

“Is Sister Gertrude still there?”

Jacob said that the elderly nun was still loudly scolding anyone who ran in the halls or talked after lights out.

“She used to yell at me a lot, too.” Matt said and half smiled at the memory.

They walked back to Saint Agnes just in time to sign Jacob in before supper. 

That week they went back twice more for short visits on school day afternoons.

On Thursday Ms. Flores called to say that she and Sister Maggie had decided they could bring Jacob home for the weekend.

The nun arranged for them to sign Jacob out late Friday afternoon and to bring him back after mass on Sunday. They found Jacob waiting for them in the office, his clothes packed into his emptied school bag. 

Friday evening they spent cooking supper together, watching television and reading more stories. Karen read him the “one last story" he begged for and then tucked him in and sat with the boy until he fell asleep.

The next morning Jacob walked into the kitchen where Matt was making pancakes and Karen was setting the table.

"Wow. Pancakes! We usually have oatmeal for breakfast at Saint Agnes,” he said, “or else rubbery scrambled eggs.”

“I remember,” Matt answered. “That’s why I thought you'd like to have pancakes.”

They had a busy day at the park and the library where Karen checked out another “Wayside School” book and two from the “Magic Treehouse" series.

Sunday morning, Jacob reluctantly returned to the orphanage after Karen and Matt promised he could visit again soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Wayside School series is by Louis Sachar.
> 
> The Magic Tree House series is by Mary Pope Osborne.


	6. Chapter 6

After one more weekend, Ms. Flores let them bring Jacob to live with them. They were now officially foster parents with the intention of adopting.

Jacob was thrilled to have a real home. He started calling them Mom and Dad, making Karen smile every time she heard it.

With Matt helping with Braille and Karen acting as homework reader, Jacob was doing better in school than ever before. He was a fun co-operative child.

Until one day he wasn't. 

About two months after coming to live with them, he suddenly turned defiant. 

“I don’t want to!” he shouted when Karen asked him to pick up the pieces of the Monopoly game they had been playing. He turned the board upside down, scattering money papers, cards and plastic houses all over the floor.

“I’m too tired!” he cried when Matt said it was time to work on Braille. And he swept the book off the table. 

“Okay, buddy, I get that you feel angry at the world today.” Matt tried to be understanding. “I’ve felt that…"

But Jacob ran out of the room before Matt could finish his sentence.

The next day Karen called Sister Maggie while Jacob was at school. 

“He's testing you,” she told Karen. “He needs to know that you still want him, even if he doesn't always behave perfectly.

“Of course we want him!”

Sister Maggie said that the behavior was normal for a child who was in the process of being adopted.

“He isn’t used to unconditional love. He needs to make sure it’s real.”

She told Karen not to get angry, to remain loving but firm.

The next time Jacob refused to pick up his play things, Karen shook her head and said, “That’s too bad. I was planning to take you to the library this afternoon but now we won’t have time.” 

When he wouldn’t practice Braille, Matt calmly told him that every day that went by without practicing would mean a longer time until he could read by himself.

Karen still read to him before bed, but she read stories that he had heard before instead of a new one from the library. 

Over the next few weeks the defiant behavior lessened until it almost stopped. Jacob went back to being the usually well behaved child he had been before.

Finally the big day came when they all went to court to finalize the adoption. 

“It feels strange going to court when I don’t need a argue a case.” Matt commented. 

They were all a little nervous. But Foggy and Marci as well as Sister Maggie came along for moral support. 

During the hearing, the judge asked Jacob if he wanted to be adopted by the couple he had been living with.

Jacob gave a resounding “Yes!” and the judge signed the decree of adoption. She banged the gavel and then allowed Jacob to bang it too.

Matt feigned jealousy. “I’ve been in more courtrooms than I can count and I never got to bang the gavel,” he said as he found Jacob’s hair and tousled it. 

All three hugged and kissed each other right there in the courtroom. 

“I felt you were ours since the day we met you,” Karen said with her arm around her son. “But now it’s legal and you’re ours forever.”

As time went on, it seemed that he had always been part of the family. Foggy and Marci, their neighbors, and the people they saw at church all acted as if he had always been their son. 

Sometimes the three of them almost forgot that he had not been born to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many judges will allow an older child to bang the gavel at an adoption finalization hearing. The link below mentions it.
> 
>  
> 
> [ https://www.adoptivefamilies.com/adoption-bonding-home/adoption-finalization/ ](https://www.adoptivefamilies.com/adoption-bonding-home/adoption-finalization/)


	7. Epilogue

Two years after Jacob joined their family, Sister Maggie asked Matt and Karen to come see her at the orphanage while Jacob attended a youth activity at the church.

“A five-year-old girl with albinism entered Saint Agnes a few months ago,” Sister Maggie told them. “Her coloring is similar to Jacob's but her eyes are less affected. With glasses and some adaptations she should manage fine. She probably won’t need to read Braille or use a cane.”

“Is she available for adoption?” Matt asked.

“Yes. Little girls her age are usually adopted fairly quickly. We thought we had a good family for her. They have a brownstone in Brooklyn. They got everything ready, fixed up a fluffy pink bedroom and put a swing in the back yard.”

“What happened?” Karen asked. 

“They changed their minds after they met her. As the wife put it, they weren’t sure they could deal with a ‘half blind child who looks like she faded in the wash.’”

Karen turned toward Matt and touched his arm. “I think it’s time to for us to update our home study.”

Matt nodded. “We'll call Ms. Flores tomorrow and make an appointment,” he said.


End file.
